Yatra to raise 200 cr from Valiant, Norwest & Intel Cap

NEW DELHI: Online travel services firm Yatra Online is raising Rs 200 crore in a fresh round of investment led by US-based asset management firm Valiant Capital along with existing shareholders such as Norwest Venture Partners and Intel Capital.

Dhruv Shringi, co-founder & CEO, Yatra, said the money will be used to expand the holiday and hotel booking segment. "We are also looking for merger and acquisition opportunities in this segment to strengthen our presence," he said. Yatra, which competes with the likes of Nasdaq-listed Makemytrip besides Travelguru and Cleartrip in the fast growing online travel services business in India, had last October picked a majority stake in Delhi-based ticketing services provider Travel Services International for an undisclosed amount.

The firm draws a large chunk of its revenues from domestic and international air tickets business, but expects faster growth in its hotels and holiday package bookings from here on. The company also intends to use part of the fresh money being raised to expand branding and marketing exercise in tier-II and -III towns and cities.

It is also looking to increase its offline presence from 34 stores to 50 stores over the next 12 months as e-commerce is still in its evolution stage in India. The five-year-old firm had earlier raised. 150 crore through various rounds of investments by its existing shareholders that includes venture capital firms Norwest Venture Partners and Intel Capital, Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Venture Asset Management and Network 18.

Shringi said the company decided to rope in Valiant Capital Management as a new investor as it has experience in investing in both public and private markets. "Their experience in investing in the public markets will help us at the time of the IPO," he said. Yatra Online is looking to hit the capital market for its public issue within 12-18 months. San Francisco-headquartered Valiant Capital Management, that has over $2 billion of assets under management, counts among its India investments, financial services firm JM Financial, microfinance firm Spandana Spoorty Financial Ltd and diversified company Jai Corp that is into textile and infrastructure businesses. Several Indian online travel firms have raised funds in the past few months.